--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If they are sufficiently complete to…" description: "\"If they are sufficiently complete to live, they do live, and it is well they should live. If they are not sufficiently complete to live, they die, and ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/495/herbert-spencer-1765_dies_if-they-are-sufficiently-complete-to-liv_1753841.jpg" --- # If they are sufficiently complete to live, they do live… ![“If they are sufficiently complete to live, they do live, and it is well they should live. If they are not sufficiently complete to live, they die, and it is best they should die.” quote by Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/495/herbert-spencer-1765_dies_if-they-are-sufficiently-complete-to-liv_1753841.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/495/herbert-spencer-1765_dies_if-they-are-sufficiently-complete-to-liv_1753841.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/495/herbert-spencer-1765_dies_if-they-are-sufficiently-complete-to-liv_1753841.jpg) > “If they are sufficiently complete to live, they do live, and it is well they should live. If they are not sufficiently complete to live, they die, and it is best they should die.” [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Organisms that meet essential criteria survive; those that don't are removed, reflecting natural selection. **In simple terms:** Only fully formed beings survive; incomplete ones die. Key Takeaway Ensure completeness before action. Themes evolution survival criteria Mood analytical reflective Type philosophical scientific When to use this quote - biology - business - technology - personal development Key Concepts natural selection adaptation Questions to Reflect On - What criteria define completeness for you? - How do you handle incomplete projects? A Different Perspective Complex systems may not fit simple binary outcomes. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Sufficiently](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sufficiently/) ## Related quotes > [A frnd can be true until u die but a best frnd knoes where to find u after that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mulfat/a-frnd-can-be-true-until-u-die-but-a-best-frnd-knoes-where-to-find-u/) [Mulfat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mulfat/) > [Passion, that thing of beauty, that flowering without roots, has to be born, live and die without reason.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georgette-leblanc/passion-that-thing-of-beauty-that-flowering-without-roots-has-to-be/) [Georgette Leblanc](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georgette-leblanc/) > [If you die of cancer with only openness and softness in your heart, you will live and die integrating your self.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-de-ruiter/if-you-die-of-cancer-with-only-openness-and-softness-in-your-heart/) [John de Ruiter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-de-ruiter/) > [Live before you die, so that death is also a lively celebration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-k-s-iyengar/live-before-you-die-so-that-death-is-also-a-lively-celebration/) [B.K.S. 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Radicalism endeavours to realize a state more in harmony with the character of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/conservatism-defends-those-coercive-arrangements-which-a-still/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [Absolute morality is the regulation of conduct in such a way that pain shall not be inflicted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/absolute-morality-is-the-regulation-of-conduct-in-such-a-way-that/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [When a man's knowledge is not in order, the more of it he has the greater will be his confusion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/when-a-man-s-knowledge-is-not-in-order-the-more-of-it-he-has-the/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [The cruelty of a Fijian god, who, represented as devouring the souls of the dead, may be supposed to inflict torture during the process,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/the-cruelty-of-a-fijian-god-who-represented-as-devouring-the-souls-of/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [The liberty the citizen enjoys is to be measured not by governmental machinery he lives under, whether representative or other, but by the paucity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/the-liberty-the-citizen-enjoys-is-to-be-measured-not-by-governmental/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [I had a great dislike to the annoyances entailed by baggage; and it was always with some feeling of elation that I cut myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/i-had-a-great-dislike-to-the-annoyances-entailed-by-baggage-and-it/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [Progress, therefore, is not an accident, but a necessity…It is a part of nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/progress-therefore-is-not-an-accident-but-a-necessity-it-is-a-part-of/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [Surely in much talk there cannot choose but be much vanity. 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This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/it-cannot-but-happen-that-those-will-survive-whose-functions-happen/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [“Before he can remake his society, his society must make him.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/before-he-can-remake-his-society-his-society-must-make-him/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) [Explore all 210 Herbert Spencer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) ## More Death quotes > [“He wondered how it was fair that your dying should depend so much on when you were born.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-albom/he-wondered-how-it-was-fair-that-your-dying-should-depend-so-much-on/) [Mitch Albom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-albom/) > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. 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